Willem "Wim" Sonneveld (; 28 June 1917 – 8 March 1974) was a Dutch cabaret artist and singer. Together with Toon Hermans and Wim Kan, he is considered to be one of the "Great Three" of Dutch cabaret. Sonneveld is generally viewed as a Dutch cultural icon for his work and legacy in theatre, musicals and music.

Biography

Wim Sonneveld was born on 28 June 1917 in Utrecht, Netherlands, to Gerrit Sonneveld and Geertruida van den Berg. In 1922, at a very young age, he lost his mother. After his time at school, where he was the class clown, he had a few unsuccessful jobs.

In 1932, he started singing in an amateur choir, the Keep Smiling Singers, after which he teamed up with Fons Goossens in 1934 to form a duo and perform at anniversaries of associations and institutions. Later that year, he met reviewer Huub Janssen and after a journey through France in 1936 they started living together in Amsterdam, at first on the Westermarkt, later on the Prinsengracht. In that same year, he worked for Louis Davids. During the day he worked as an administrator and in evening he played small roles and sang chansons. In that same period, he performed with his partner Huub in his own club, De Rarekiek. In 1937, he sang in "cabarets" (floor shows in nightclubs) with Suzy Solidor and Agnes Capri in France.

After the declaration of war of 1940, Sonneveld returned to the Netherlands, where he acted in plays and in the revue of Loekie Bouwmeester. In 1940, he performed in the Theater der Prominenten and at Abraham van der Vies' De Sprookjesspelers. Here he met Conny Stuart. In 1943, he formed his own association, consisting among others of Conny Stuart, Lia Dorana, Albert Mol, Joop Doderer, Hetty Blok and Emmy Arbous.

Sonneveld was gay, though not openly, as it would have been unacceptable during that era.

Death

On 20 February 1974, Sonneveld suffered a heart attack while driving on the highway from Amsterdam to Rotterdam. He had just picked up two hitchhikers and asked one of them to take the wheel. The hitchhiker did so, and drove at full speed back to the VU Hospital in Amsterdam.

Initially, Sonneveld began to recover, but on Friday 8 March, a second heart attack proved fatal.

He was buried on Monday 11 March at the Roman Catholic Cemetery Buitenveldert.

Rim Ram Between 1943 and 1959, he staged with his own cabaret association Rim Ram a great number of shows: 1943: Alleen voor dames (text by Hella Haasse) 1944: Sprookjes 1944: Opus drie 1945: De bloemetjes buiten 1945: Tingeltangel 1946: Verre reizen 1946: Tutti frutti 1946: Leidscheplein 1947: Vanavond om acht uur 1947: 't Is maar comedie 1948: 't Is historisch 1949: We spelen pantomime 1949: Iene-miene-mutten 1950: 't Is mij een raadsel 1951: Herhalingsoefeningen 1951: Artiestenpension 1952: Boekenfeest 1952: Gastenboek 1952: Het meisje met de grote voeten 1953: Bloemlezing (compilation show) 1953: In de winckel van Sinckel 1954: Waar de blanke top der duinen 1955: Huis tuin en keuken 1957: À la carte 1959: Rim Ram

Willem Parel A famous creation of Wim Sonneveld was Willem Parel, son and grandson of a Dutch street organ grinder as well as chairman of the En-pé-gé, the Dutch Pearl Association (Nederlands ParelGenootschap). This brought him great success on the VARA-radio in the early 1950s. Parel would expose movingly about "organ grinding in general and the psychology of the penny cup in particular". Over time Wim Sonneveld came to hate his creation, but he knew that Willem Parel drew a large audience and he couldn't live from just singing chansons. In 1955, a movie was shot called The Wondrous life of Willem Parel.

Film, musical, solo Wim Sonneveld has played in some movies: the aforementioned The Wondrous life of Willem Parel as well as the Hollywood thriller The Pink Hippopotamus (1956) and a later the films Silk stockings (1957) and Wasp End (1957).

After 702 performances of the musical My Fair Lady, since 1960, after his own club went bankrupt in 1959, with which he "wore out" three Eliza Doolittles (Margriet de Groot, Dorien Mijksenaar and Jasperina de Jong) in his role as dr. Higgins, he went solo with television shows such as Doe es wat, meneer Sonneveld (1962) and Blijf in Holland (1963). In 1964, he again took the stage with Een avond met Wim Sonneveld.

Remarkable was his threefold guest role in episode 16 of the television series by Annie M.G. Schmidt and Harry Bannink in 1967, as himself, Arie Pruijselaar junior and Arie Pruijselaar senior. In 1967 he performed alongside Ina van Faassen in a theater show and in 1971 with and Corrie van Gorp. His last film was Op de Hollandse toer (1973).

He would have liked to end his career singing French chansons, because his heart lay in France, where he had a house in Roquefort-les-Pins.

On 8 March 1974, Wim Sonneveld died at the age of 56 in the VU hospital in Amsterdam from his second heart attack.

Even though Wim Sonneveld never publicly stated that he was homosexual, he shared his life only with men, first with Hubert Janssen, later with prop designer, text writer and painter Friso Wiegersma (1925–2006) whom he met in 1947 and who created the character Nikkelen Nelis (Nickle Nelis) for him, a character, made from the well-known street singer from Rotterdam, named (Copper Ko).

Famous characters

Willem Parel Nikkelen Nelis the street singer Friar Venantius The Stable Master

Famous conferences Artificial insemination Hello, man behind the counter Croquettes Grandfather The Boys (about the father-problems with the love-life of his just-married 'daughter')

Famous songs "Aan de Amsterdamse grachten2 "Het dorp" (La montagne) "Katootje" "Margootje" "Tearoom Tango" "Zo heerlijk rustig" "Daar is de orgelman" "In een rijtuigie" "Doe het doek maar dicht"

Discography

Albums noted in the Dutch Album Top 20/50/100 TitleRelease dateEntrance dateHighest positionWeeksCommentsWim Sonneveld, Willem Nijholt & Corrie van Gorp16 October 197197with Willem Nijholt and Corrie van GorpMuziek mozaïek, 10 maart 1974 (Recording of Duys' radio show)30 March 1974111with Willem DuysComplete discografie5 October 19742416De beste van Wim Sonneveld9 November 1974711Het beste van Wim Sonneveld24 February 19792421Een herinnering aan Wim Sonneveld2 November 19855013Haal het doek maar op21 May 1994395Voor altijd10 April 1999329Op de plaat – De complete reeks31 October 201546

Singles noted in the Dutch Top 40 TitleRelease dateEntrance dateHighest positionWeeksCommentsFrater Venantius16 January 19651015Tearoom tango26 March 19661112De kat van Ome Willem2 March 1968210Mooi Amsterdam23 March 1968tipwith Willy AlbertiIn een rijtuigje23 March 1968126with Leen JongewaardHet dorp18 May 1974275

Wim Sonneveld Award Every year since 1988, the Wim Sonneveld Award has been awarded to the most talented performer in cabaret and related arts on the Amsterdams kleinkunstfestival.

References

Een overzicht door Theater Instituut Nederland Het archief van Beeld & Geluid Genealogische gegevens Wim Sonneveld in "Genealogie Mostert"